Launceston will be transformed into a vibrant city with some of its revitalisation projects assisted by a funding boost from the state government.
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City of Launceston acting mayor Rob Soward said the spending in Launceston would help to move forward its project such as City Heart, the University of Tasmania campus move and the City Deal.
"There are lot of excellent announcements in this budget for the City of Launceston. They will help not only drive tourist numbers across the region, they will also improve our health and education systems through major capital expenditure, which will in turn, drive employment opportunities. That can only be a good thing, particularly at a time when there's already so much confidence and growth already happening in the city,” Ald Soward said.
"Once some of these larger projects come online, I think you'll see Launceston transform from being what is already a wonderful city into an extraordinary, ground-breaking city in terms of educational outcomes and investment for years to come."
Alderman Soward said $35.8 million for 19 more beds and staff in Ward 4D at the Launceston General Hospital was a huge positive for the region, while $24 million in infrastructure spending at some of the larger primary and high schools in the municipality was also welcomed.
He also said the funding for improvements to the Mowbray connector was welcomed, although it was an expected commitment.
Launceston Chamber of Commerce chief executive Jan Davis said while she hadn’t had the chance to look at the specific Northern aspects of the budget she was optimistic overall.
“The overall metric of it [the budget] looks good,” she said.
She said while it was a reasonable “spending budget” typical of a pre-election budget, the difference with this one was it was spending money the government already had.
“It’s good to see it back in the black,” she said.